 |
Raman Lidar data obtained at the Darwin site have been reprocessed with an improved cloud mask, attenuation flag, and extended height range to 20 kilometers. Data are now available at 2-minute and 10-minute resolution for the Raman Lidar Profiles - Depolarization Ratio (RLPROFDEP) value-added product (VAP), which includes the following primary variables:
cloud mask
depolarization ratio
extinction coefficient
backscatter [...]
|
 |
Aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements have been provided for the Above-Cloud Radiation Budget field campaign at Pico Observatory, Azores, held in conjunction with the 2010 deployment of the ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) in Graciosa Island, Azores.
AOD measures the total aerosol burden in the atmosphere. The spectral dependence of AOD, typically described by [...]
|
 |
A new large-scale forcing data set is now available for the Variational Analysis (VARANAL) value-added product (VAP) using data from the Small Particles in Cirrus (SPARTICUS) field campaign.
The constrained variational objective analysis approach described in Zhang and Lin (1997) and Zhang et al. (2001) was used to derive the large-scale single-column/cloud-resolving model forcing and evaluation [...]
|
 |
The Vertical Air Motion during Large-Scale Stratiform Rain (VERVELSR) value-added product (VAP) uses the unique properties of a 95-GHz radar Doppler velocity spectra to produce vertical profiles of air motion during low-to-moderate (1–20 mm/hr) rainfall events. It is designed to run at ARM sites that include a W-band ARM cloud radar (WACR) radar with [...]
|
 |
Cloud droplet number concentration is an important factor in understanding aerosol-cloud interactions. As aerosol concentration increases, it is expected that droplet number concentration, Nd, will increase and droplet size decrease for a given liquid water path, which will greatly affect cloud albedo as smaller droplets reflect more shortwave radiation. However, the magnitude and variability of [...]
|
 |
Raw moments from the scanning ARM precipitation radars (SAPRs) are subject to a number of instrument and atmospheric phenomena that must be retrieved and corrected for. The Corrected Moments in Antenna Coordinates (CMAC) value-added product contains both raw data and fields that have been processed to:
correct for velocity aliasing
unfold and generate a cross-polarimetric phase [...]
|
 |
Precipitation rates from cloud systems can give a fundamental insight into in-cloud processes. While rain gauges and disdrometers can give information at a single point, remote sensors such as radars can provide rainfall information over a defined area.
The Quantitative Precipitation Experiment (QPE) value-added product (VAP) contains precipitation rates gathered by the C-band scanning ARM precipitation [...]
|
 |
The Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SASHE) is a ground-based instrument that measures both direct and diffuse shortwave irradiance. SASHE provides hyperspectral measurements from about 350 nm to 1700 nm at a wavelength resolution from 1 to several nanometers.
The SASHE Aerosol Optical Depth (SASHE AOD) VAP processes the files created by the SASHE Langley VAP [...]
|
 |
A Langley plot is a regression of log (signal) versus airmass. Under appropriate conditions, the Langley regression yields values that represent the response of an instrument in absence of atmosphere (i.e., at the top of atmosphere), and these values are ultimately useful for instrument calibration. The existing LANGLEY VAP (available through special request from the [...]
|
 |
Temperature is one of the most fundamental atmospheric state variables and is crucial to the understanding of many meteorological processes. The Raman lidars at the ARM Climate Research Facility Southern Great Plains (SGP) and Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) Darwin sites are currently the only ARM active remote sensing instruments capable of profiling temperature through much [...]
|
 |
Aerosol optical depth (AOD) measures total aerosol burden in the atmosphere. The spectral dependence of AOD, typically described by the Angstrom exponent, is also an indicator of particle size. Small Angstrom exponent values (near zero) indicate presence of large particles, and vice versa.
The AOD value-added product (VAP) provides both the wavelength-dependent values of AOD and [...]
|
 |
Initial data from the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric State, and Precipitation over Summit, or ICECAPS, are now available through the ARM Data Archive.
|
 |
In late November, more than 100 radar experts from around the United States gathered at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., to discuss how research radars can address critical science questions over the next 20 years and to identify related capability gaps. During the workshop, Scott Collis, ARM precipitation radar scientist from [...]
|
 |
The new flagship product ARM Best Estimate (ARMBE) has launched with the release of ARM Best Estimate Cloud Radiation (ARMBECLDRAD) and ARM Best Estimate Atmospheric Measurements (ARMBEATM) data sets, formerly under the Climate Modeling Best Estimate VAP. ARMBE will represent all of the ARM best estimate value-added products (VAP).
|
 |
Aerosol observing systems (AOS) at ARM's sites measure cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at several supersaturations using a single-column CCN counter. The Average of Cloud Condensation Nuclei from AOS (AOSCCNAVG) value-added product (VAP) was developed to consolidate the relevant CCN parameters into a single file and average data over the 5-minute integration time of each [...]
|
 |
The MFRSR-Column Intensive Properties (MFRSRCIP) value-added product (VAP) has been developed for estimating the microphysical (e.g., size distribution) and optical (e.g., single-scattering albedo and asymmetry factor) properties of aerosols. Size distribution retrieval is based on multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) measurements of the direct irradiance at five wavelengths (415, 500, 615, 673 and 870 nm) [...]
|
 |
The new Convective Vertical Velocity (CONVV) value-added product uses observations from Doppler weather radars and other instruments to produce a best estimate of convective vertical velocity. This evaluation product is available for a few key cases during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment field campaign at the ARM Southern Great Plains site.
Convective processes play [...]
|
 |
Eddy correlation flux measurement systems (ECOR) are used by ARM to provide surface turbulence flux measurements. The Quality Controlled Eddy Correlation Flux (QCECOR) value-added product (VAP) improves the ECOR data by applying the following quality control (QC) procedures:
Eddy correlation corrections
Determination of the quality-controlled energy fluxes from the corrected ECOR fluxes
Stringent QC checks.
The QCECOR evaluation product [...]
|
 |
Once a year, representatives from ARM’s External Data Center, Data Quality Office, Data Archive, and Data Management Facility gather with infrastructure management, scientists, and developers of data ingests and value-added products to discuss progress on infrastructure activities related to ARM data. In mid-August, the ARM Developers met at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to review [...]
|
 |
The Ka-band ARM zenith radars (KAZRs) have replaced the long-serving millimeter-wavelength cloud radars (MMCRs). As a result, the Active Remote Sensing of Clouds (ARSCL) value-added product (VAP), which is based on MMCR observations, is being replaced by a KAZR version, the KAZR-ARSCL VAP.
KAZR observations in this VAP are corrected for water vapor attenuation and [...]
|
 |
Knowledge of a wide range of meteorological, chemical, and aerosol quantities and properties is needed to fully understand the key processes that affect aerosol life cycle. Field campaign and operational measurements of aerosol properties and trace gas chemistry are often available in a wide range of formats. As a result, scientists usually spend a [...]
|
 |
Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height (or mixing-layer depth) can vary significantly with time due to a number of factors, including large-scale dynamics, cloudiness, convective mixing, and the diurnal cycle of solar radiation. The structure and depth of the PBL are important to a wide range of atmospheric processes, such as cloud formation, aerosol mixing and [...]
|
 |
Evaluation data are available for the value-added product (VAP) Mapped Moments to a Cartesian Grid (MMCG) for periods between October and December 2011 from the Tropical Western Pacific Manus site. The C-band scanning ARM precipitation radar (C-SAPR) produces measurements of raw radar moments in antenna coordinates of range from and the azimuth and elevation of [...]
|
 |
The Interpolated Sonde (INTERPSONDE) value-added product (VAP) is an intermediate step of the MERGESONDE VAP that produces a daily file of atmospheric state variables (temperature, humidity, pressure, and winds) from radiosonde soundings, the microwave radiometer, and surface meteorological instruments. INTERPSONDE includes many of the same sophisticated scaling/interpolation/smoothing schemes that are the hallmark of MERGESONDE, [...]
|
